History made as Cooper Tires Prototype Lites celebrates largest ever L1 field at Circuit of the Americas

Thursday 3 October 2013

Cooper Tire reached a motorsport milestone over the weekend of September 21/22, as the largest ever grid of L1 cars was fielded at the Circuit of the Americas (Texas) for rounds 11 and 12 at the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda Series.A total of 23 Lites 1 Elan DP02 2.0-litre Mazda machines took to the 3.4-mile circuit, bringing the entire field, including L2 cars, to a total of 26 – the largest since the round at Sebring International Raceway back in March 2010.The spoils for race one went to Comprent Motor Sports’ Sean Rayhall, who avoided incident in a frenetic race and ran in second place until leader, Ryan Booth, suffered a mechanical issue under yellow flag conditions.Once out in front, Rayhall powered to the chequered flag to take his sixth victory of the year, while Cooper celebrated an historic achievement.Booth’s misfortune didn’t carry over into race two and, starting from pole, the 20-year-old stormed off the line for the 45-minute sprint race to build a dominant lead over his rivals.In expert style, Booth put his race one disappointment behind him, taking the fastest lap – a new lap record – en route to a 14-second victory.Speaking after race two, Booth said, “We had an unfortunate race due to a mechanical [issue]. I was just stoked the Performance Tech boys could get the car running again; it was awesome throughout the whole race and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the weekend.”The Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship Powered by Mazda was developed to support the American Le Mans Series, one of the premier prototype and GT endurance racing series in the world. The series features global race car constructors Elan Motorsport Technologies and West Race Cars and offers racers from around the world the opportunity to compete at historic venues like Sebring International Raceway, Road Atlanta and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.